Chapter 281
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The young man cursed and swaggered up to Qing Zhonghao and his son Qing Chengtian.
“Old man, get out of the way,” he sneered. “Do you know who I am? I am Shang Tianque, a scion of the Shang clan. How dare you block my way?”
Upon hearing this, Qing Zhonghao’s face turned even more ashen. As the city lord of Qingmu City and a cultivator at the third level of the Meridian-Condensing stage, he could easily defeat Shang Tianque, who was merely at the first level. However, Shang Tianque was from the Shang clan—one of the five great families of the capital. Compared to them, a mere city lord of a small place like Qingmu City was nothing.
At this moment, Shang Tianque continued to berate them, but Qing Zhonghao dared not even breathe heavily.
“Prince Tianque, my son was being rude. I apologize. These spirit stones are my compensation to you,” Qing Zhonghao said, taking out over a hundred spirit stones. In a small city like Qingmu City, spirit stones were rare and valuable, and over a hundred of them were worth a fortune.
However, Shang Tianque kicked the spirit stones away with a curse: “Old man, are you trying to humiliate me? A hundred spirit stones? Is that how you treat a beggar?”
With that, he stepped forward and stomped on Qing Zhonghao’s wrist, shouting, “Today, there’s no negotiation for less than ten thousand spirit stones!”
As he spoke, Shang Tianque stomped down with a crunch. Qing Zhonghao’s arm snapped, but he gritted his teeth and endured the pain, fearing that any outcry would further enrage Shang Tianque.
“Father!” Qing Chengtian’s face turned pale with anger as he glared at Shang Tianque and shouted, “You bastard, I’ll fight you to the death.”
“Chengtian, don’t…” Qing Zhonghao tried to stop him, but it was too late.
Ignoring his father’s plea, Qing Chengtian lunged forward, throwing a punch at Shang Tianque. Seeing the attack coming from the slightly older youth, Shang Tianque merely sneered.
“A mere first-level Meridian-Condensing cultivator from a backwater place is far from matching a first-level Meridian-Condensing cultivator from the capital,” he taunted.
With a swift movement, Shang Tianque dodged the punch and, in one fluid motion, kicked Qing Chengtian in the stomach.
Thud…
Qing Chengtian staggered back, crashing into the crowd and falling to the ground. At that moment, his face turned ghastly pale as he spat out a mouthful of blood. Both of them were at the first level of the Meridian-Condensing stage, yet Shang Tianque had made it clear that there was no contest between them. The disparity was simply too great.
Seeing this, Qing Zhonghao’s face turned even paler as he tried to get up, only to have Shang Tianque stomp on his back. Despite being at the third level of the Meridian-Condensing stage, he dared not resist. Resistance would mean death. The scions of these great families wielded immense power in the capital, and a mere city lord was no match for them.
“Old man, are you convinced now?” Shang Tianque asked with a triumphant smirk.
“Convinced, convinced, Prince Tianque. Please, let us go,” Qing Zhonghao pleaded.
Seeing this scene, Shang Tianque’s face was filled with arrogance, and the other young men beside him laughed as well. These minor characters thought that just because their son had been admitted to Qingyun Academy, they could rise to prominence overnight. What a pipe dream!
The onlookers around them murmured and exchanged glances, but the senior students of Qingyun Academy seemed to turn a blind eye to the incident happening just a few meters away.
Qing Chengtian, young and hot-blooded, could not bear to see his father so humiliated.
“Shang Tianque, I…” he began, but before he could finish, his arm was tightly grasped by another hand.
“Ye Wushuang!” Qing Chengtian looked at the young man who had stopped him, taken aback.
“Don’t act rashly,” Ye Wushuang said, holding him back.
Then, turning to Shang Tianque, Ye Wushuang smiled and asked, “I wonder if ten thousand spirit stones would be enough to appease your anger, young master?”
Hearing this, Shang Tianque looked at Ye Wushuang, taken aback for a moment. These father and son, clearly from a small place, actually knew a young master who could afford to be so generous? But who was this young man? He could casually offer ten thousand spirit stones—surely he must be from one of the capital’s great families. Why didn’t Shang Tianque recognize him?
